rose hip

All Hallows' Eve is finally upon us...

and the pirates are, oh.. so ready, to search, hi and lo, for treasures that promise to be so sweet...

 

 

  Happy Halloween everyone and do beware of dancing pirates and lurking goblins...

odds and ends...

I ended up having a very muddled day today and  barely accomplished anything...As of yet, my pirates still don't have any costumes to speak of - I 'm only starting to cut out the pattern pieces now and it's already past 11:00 pm... So, given this lack of progress on my current project, I thought I would show you a photo of something I made several months ago and we can all pretend that I just finished it today...

While the patchwork piece looks like a quilt, it's actually a duvet cover which is backed by sheeting fabric trimmed by ric rac. Also shown in the photo are a couple of pillowcases and a cushion with an appliqued little flower posy which I also made to match the duvet cover.

Well, my day was not a complete write-off since I did manage to find a little basket full of vintage treasures at one of my favorite thrift stores; finding the fabric was a real treat because I very rarely find such lovely pieces of vintage, crisp cotton... I also love old children's patterns from the 50's, 60's and early 70's (the one in the photo is from 1965), but that is another story altogether...   

 

pillow talk and pirates....

I've completed three pillows (or cushions, whichever word you prefer) for my friend's living room; all three are the same except for the fact that one of them has the fabric strips and velvet ribbons down the middle instead of on the side. For the next four that I still have to make, I'm going to let loose a bit: I'm thinking more fabrics, more colors, perhaps some applique and postage stamp quilting...So, after a lot of pillow thought, my vision for this pillow collection has crystallized into the following: the first three pillows will bridge the look of the sofa and chair to that of the next four pillows which will be more fun-looking and less coordinated with the overall look of the room...Does this make any sense? Well, hopefully it does and it will all turn out looking great?!...

Anyhow, enough pillow talk...Halloween is rapidly approaching and I have three little pirates at home, aged 4, 6 and 8, who have nothing to wear! So, I picked up this very cheesy-looking pattern today and tomorrow, I'll  hopefully start suiting them up...Oh yeah, and by the way, my little pirates will not only be sporting red, white and black....Stay tuned....

pretty in pink and blue...

A new little acquisition to bring a little bit of prettiness to our house...

...and now for something completely different...

    It seems to me now that I spent a lot of last week thinking about cushions that a friend asked me toput together for her living room. There are two focal furniture pieces in her living room: one is a a vintage (pre-1960's style) three-seater sofa and the other is a more contemporary Ikea-style  sofa chair. The sofa is upholstered in a more traditional fabric - a khaki greenish textured brocade - while the chair was recently slipcovered in an Amy Butler floral print from her Sunbloom collection. Given these two  different furniture styles and fabrics, I think the cushions,  if well-designed,  should help pull things together a little better in the room...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    After many false starts, many  purchased bits of fabric and many piles looking like this one below, I finally arrived at an idea for the first cushion (I have to make 7...).  While the cushion turned out totally different than my first idea (funny how that often happens!),  I still used the same fabric that I originally planned on using - a  khaki  olive green synthetic fabric which looks a little like tweedy linen  (bit of a weird description?!). This fabric was a very good find as I thought it important for the overall  look of the room to throw in another  fabric  which had color(s) in common with the two fabrics used in the furniture...  Anyhow, enough bla-bla, the almost finished (I still have to find buttons for the back closure) cushion looks like this- 

...against the two fabrics -

...and the back closure which  will look a lot like the  front  except for the buttons which will come through on the light mossy green fabric -

I really like the little blue geometric print - it's a vintage purchase off Ebay - too bad I only have one yard of it!  Now, I have to come up with the next 6 cushions....I'll keep you posted...

mirror ball dots...

    I feel like my last few days have been rather frustrating - I must have spent hours trying to figure out why my serger wasn't working properly (it's at the repair shop now with a broken needle plate), hours trying to figure out how to resize my blog's banner  and re-work its general design (it's sort of there but not quite there...), hours trying to deal with my messy house only to watch the little I managed to sort out tumble back down into wild abandon and, sprinkled in between, hours fighting  bouts with a migraine... So,  I felt rather justified today in treating  myself  to something special: a box with 40 fat-quarters (18" X 22") from the Michael Miller  collection  Mirror Ball Dot.  I've actually never bought fat-quarters before but I couldn't resist these - well yes -  partly, because I'm a pushover for nicely packaged merchandise (don't they look as smart as a new box of color pencils!)  but also, because I  see Christmas written all over this collection of fun fabric...   

(Aren't they fun!)

    Christmas?!... already?!.. Well,yes - perhaps because Posy 's post on the subject has been on my mind, and also, because I recently picked up Country Living (U.S. version)'s Christmas issue.  I actually wasn't going to buy it until I saw the last Christmas home photo spread called A Candy-colored Christmas - See for yourself, don't you think  there's a common thread between these photos and my Mirror Ball Dot fabrics?   

Such irresistibly pretty froufrou-ness... like a little girl's special Christmas  dress...maybe, even like the one I'm starting to think I should make with my new boxed collection of glittery fat-quarters....Hmmm...

 

 

fall fabric - episode 2...

What do you think - do you see a fall quilt in this assortment of fabric?...Well, I do - my inspiration in this case is the little crochet piece in the middle which I found recently at a local thrift store  - I love everything about it and only wish it was as big as a blanket!

You can't see it in the photos (I really do have to hone my photography skills...) but there is some tweedy yarn in it - I  should mention here that I  love all things tweed  and I don't think this quilt design will be complete without some kind of tweed in it....Hmmm... now if I could only find time to start working on it!

yo-yo love...

I love everything about yo-yos  -  I love the way they look on things, I love their simplicity, I  love making them,  I love bunching them up in  different ways...what's there not to love! I've been collecting them for a while - I have a whole bagful ready to be tacked onto things - and yes, I've also been sewing up a bunch...

I made this skirt  for one of my daughters as a back-to-school treat - what fun!... I'm hoping to make more of these skirts soon  and, if all goes as planned, I should be tacking yo-yos on some of my Christmas projects....Stay tuned for more yo-yo updates!

fall fabric - episode 1...

    I can't wait to use these two pieces of thrifted vintage fabric  in a project  - especially the top one ...none of the pictures I took today show how lovely  it really is  - it has a  wonderful woven,  linen-like texture  with a  warm chocolaty background.  The bottom  fabric  is definitely  linen and  has a color combination that I can never get enough of : aqua blue and avocado green...yummmm!

    The old paint-by-number in the background is a real favorite of mine - I  think I  will use it as the color inspiration for a fall quilt/coverlet...

 

my fall stash....

     I  just finished the coverlet I had been working on these last few days. Not suprisingly, it was Eastertime when I first combined this bunch of fabric together  - I  definitely had the  pastels of Easter season, the white of crisp  cotton sheets and the green of fresh spring grass on my
brain...

     While I think there's nothing wrong in making this coverlet at this time of the year and then throwing it on a  bed suited up for winter - in fact, it might very well be therapeutic to be snuggled in one of these  in the dead of winter-  I  am itching to  put together a few coverlet designs using my stash of fall fabric!  In the past, I've never managed to do so - Halloween and Christmas  have a way of taking over my  fall schedule...

    In the next few days, despite having  many things to work on,  I will start  pulling out some of these fabrics and start thinking of ways of combining them - I'll show you some of them in my next few posts. And hopefully, I'll have a coverlet made with these fabrics keeping me warm and cozy  at Christmastime...